High-level Commemorative Event Srebrenica: Remembering and
Honoring the Victims Genocide
July 2015
The United Nations Preparatory Committee for the Commemoration the 20th
Anniversary the Srebrenica Genocide extended invitation its members and those
associated with the United Nations Department Public Information for
Nongovernmental Organizations (DPI.NGO) attend special event its headquarters New York remember and honor the victims the Srebrenica massacre. This event
was held advance the main commemoration, which was held Potocari, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, July 11, 2015. Judicial Watch representative attended the commemoration support the victims
survivors and report what advances have been made hold the perpetrators this
mass murder accountable.*
The host committee and many the attendees wore special symbol remembrance
honoring the victims the Srebrenica genocide.
The white the crocheted flower signifies innocence, green signifies hope, and eleven
petals stand for July 11, 1995 the date that marks the fall the UN-declared safe
area Srebrenica and the day that marks the beginning the worst crime that has
taken place European soil since the Second World War. Within days, over 8,000
Muslim men and young boys were systematically rounded and slaughtered.
Many those attending the commemoration had family members whose lives had been
stolen from them Srebrenica. The mood was somber.
Judicial Watch associated with the United Nations Department Public Information (UN-DPI) nongovernmental organization, whose mission promote transparency, accountability and integrity government, politics and the law. fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and
public outreach. Its International Program serves integral part its educational program. Since
2001, has been meeting with delegations from all over the world who participate U.S. State
Department-sponsored leadership programs.
High-level Commemorative Event Srebrenica
July 2015
The following high-level United Nations representatives were attendance the
commemoration support those who lost husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers
Srebrenica: H.E. Ms. Mirsada Colakovic, Ambassador and Permanent Representative
Bosnia and Herzegovina the UN; H.E. Sam Kahamba Kutesa, President the UN;
H.E. Ban Moon, Secretary-General; Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, Permanent
Representative the UN; Rabbi Arthur Schneier, founder The Appeal
Conscience Foundation; Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; and Ambassador Samantha Power.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated:
[Srebrenica] will forever weigh the collective conscience the
international community. are here remember the thousands who lost
their lives the genocide are here tell the families and friends
the victims that share their sorrow.
The Srebrenica genocide stands one more stark reminder the failure protect.
Ambassador Samantha Power was freelance reporter living Bosnia when Srebrenica
fell, and she too expressed remorse for not having foreseen the extent which the
Bosnian Serb leaders would their pursuit ethnic cleansing. she recalled: [Mladi conquered safe area without much fight;
convinced peacekeepers sheltering Bosnian civilians turn them over
him; and, had himself filmed passing out chocolates young Muslim
children. not let any the children get lost, said television
footage that gets less chilling with the passage time. Don
afraid. Nobody will harm you. Patting the head terrified young boy, said, you taken safe place. Ratko Mladi lied said
that those who had done nothing wrong had nothing fear But
deemed every Bosnian Muslim man boy Srebrenica someone who
had done something wrong simply because they were Muslim. And
ordered the execution each them. article published BIRN the justice report, Srebrenica: How Prove
Genocide, provides insight into the nearly two decades painstaking investigations,
ghastly and haunting discoveries, and political maneuverings witnessed the
investigators and prosecutors.
BIRN, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, network local non-governmental organisations
promoting freedom speech, human rights and democratic values, http://birn.eu.com/en/about/about-thebalkan-investigative-reporting-network (accessed October 16, 2015).
High-level Commemorative Event Srebrenica
July 2015
The article detailed some the obstacles encountered two the investigators for the
prosecution, Jean-Rene Ruez and Andrew Caley: the end 1996, the search process was complete and per cent
the detention and execution sites had been analysed. The first exhumations victims bodies started the same year but soon became clear that the
bodies had been moved from the place where the killings happened
order solve the problem, aerial footage was requested from the
government, without which the secondary grave sites the places which
the bodies had been moved would never have been discovered.
Then the perpetrators began their campaign denial. Ruez told meeting thenU.S. Ambassador the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, with Ratko Mladi When
Albright showed [Bosnian Serb military chief] Ratko Mladic the photographs the
graves, admitted they were graves, but Muslim soldiers, who were killed fights
and [said] they had bury them for sanitary reasons. The problem was that when
opened the graves, found victims with their hands tied behind their backs.
Cayley stated that the forensic evidence showed clearly that the Serb claim was lie: had forensic evidence and the Serbs said that those were combatants, but they had
their hands tied and some had blindfolds. Not all, but many Almost all the skulls, not
all but many, had bullet hole the back the head.
The justice report also provided final accounting the tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia, indicating that has far convicted people genocide and other
crimes related Srebrenica. Further, former Bosnian Serb political and military chiefs
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladi are still trial, while former Yugoslav leader
Slobodan Milosevic died before his verdict.
The Srebrenica massacre, years later, stands stark reminder the United Nations
foundational limitations.